I don't cook kraut....any more than I would cook a pickle.

Years ago I watched an Alsatian woman cook pork and sauerkraut on PBS and that's how I've made it ever since. First I rinse it. Then I put it in a large dutch oven and add diced onion, pepper, about 1/2 cup brown sugar and chicken stock. enough to come up about an inch. I put the pork roast in the middle - salt and peppered. I cook it covered in the oven, turning it over halfway, at 350 to start, then I turn it down to 300. Depending on the size of the roast, it takes around 3 to 4 hours, give or take a half-hour according to tenderness.

I try NOT to cook, or heat process, homemade sauerkraut. That way the "good" bacteria (cultures) that makes it a healthy food is preserved. Heat process it and you kill the good-for-you stuff. I refrigerate or freeze my homemade sauerkraut and use it quickly. At most, I'll gently warm it. It's easy to add to salads, side dishes, and the ever faithful Reuben Sandwich.

If you'd like to make your own kraut again, there are recipes where you can make it in a quart canning jar and use a pint jar as the weight, which makes a nice amount.

-Grainlady

I use it in an Oktoberfest one pot dish that includes Polskla Kielbasa, potatoes, onions, apples, and cider.

I make a highly simplified version of choucroute garni, with sauerkraut, apple chicken sausage, potatoes, all cooked in white wine with bay leaf land caraway seed.

I lived in a Polish neighborhood a couple years. A tiny cafe made everything from scratch including their kraut. They made a kraut soup. And a Kielbasa-n-Kraut similar to CindyMac's. That one is pretty classic.

Here is a similar soup, hearty kraut soup ...but this cafe did not use cans. Their soup also had big chunks of chicken. Adding sauerkraut just at the end to heat through.

We make our own fermentation. I prefer not to cook it and just add it to salads of various fresh grated things like apple, golden beet, celeriac, etc....crisper drawer finds...

I've added a bit to warm salads but only at the end of the cooking.

If buying it in jar, bag or can, just taste first as it may need a rinsing before using.

With spare ribs! ! ! Cut rack of ribs into serving size pieces, brown under the broiler. Place in Dutch oven, or whatever pot you have that is big enough for the amount you are making. Put sauerkraut over the ribs, (I don'[t drain it, but you can if you prefer), add enough water (or broth) to just cover ribs. Sometimes I throw in a few caraway seeds, sometimes not. I don't add salt, the kraut is salty enough. Add pepper to your own taste. Simmer until ribs are falling off the bone tender. Serve and enjoy!

Some like to add potatoes to this, or dried apple slices. We didn't care for it with apples, and I prefer the potatoes as a side dish, usually cubed into bite size pieces, & pan fried until a light golden brown. Yum! Now I'm hungry!

Rusty

The only way I cook it is to saute w/chopped onion & apple, caraway seeds & black pepper - really good w/ sausages, roast duck & even hot dogs.

I pack my own sauerkraut, and sometimes I eat it right out of the jar, like lindac says, like pickles. However, I also use it as the bottom layer in a pan full of cabbage rolls, and I cook it with apples, onions and sausage. My mother likes hers with some added brown sugar, along with the onions, and then she adds pork chops or a pork roast. Ashley uses it in place of gravy on mashed potatoes, LOL. Elery likes it in a Rueben, and I've had it as pierogi filling and as deep fried sauerkraut balls.

I love the stuff, we go through about 50 quarts a year.

Annie

I have half-gallon jars in the fridge with red and green kraut for fresh eating and I can some green for cooking. One of DH's favorite comfort foods is a casserole his mom made for the farmhands...browned ground beef and onions, a layer of sauerkraut and topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. Also Reubens. And we like pork steaks just browned with some onions and smothered in kraut, then simmered or baked. Easy, lazy dinner.

I like to rinse it then pan fry it with a little butter, some white wine and caraway seeds. A local lady who was originally from Austria gave me this idea.

I do love cooked sauerkraut, but I never cook my homemade because then it loses all the nutritional value as a fermented food.

Rinse it, then braise it with meats for choucroute garni, or
simply simmer with a mix of 2/3 chicken stock and 1/3 apple cider. If I use caraway, it's only the very young caraway seeds, that are beige in color, not brown. A much gentler flavoring.

We recently ate at our local German restaurant and the chef
did a delightful braise of sauerkraut and cranberries, adding it to a
Schweinebraten sandwich on good bread. Yummy!

I like it browned with sausages.